


Chasing Ghosts

by AMidnightDreary, Rabentochter



Series: Frostiron Advent Calendar 2019 [17]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Dark Loki (Marvel), Dark Tony Stark, Established Relationship, For Tony and Loki anyway, Happy Ending, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, King Loki (Marvel), M/M, Manipulation, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, not for anyone else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:33:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21830800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMidnightDreary/pseuds/AMidnightDreary, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/pseuds/Rabentochter
Summary: Loki and Tony are done with accepting compromises.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Series: Frostiron Advent Calendar 2019 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558924
Comments: 41
Kudos: 359





	Chasing Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leikio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leikio/gifts).



> Happy December 17th! We hope you like it, Leikio!!❤❤

He doesn’t look any different, at least not at the first glance. People who don’t know him very well wouldn’t even notice the difference, probably. He leans forward a little, inspecting his reflection in the big mirror. And yes, there is it - he certainly looks younger. The silver streaks at his temples are gone, as are the wrinkles around his eyes. He looks like Tony Stark looked ten, maybe even fifteen years ago, and he has to admit that it’s nice. 

Grinning at himself, he looks into his own eyes. He knows that his eyes have always been one of his best features and he never found the brown dull, but this golden color sure is something. 

Loki wraps his arms around him from behind and kisses his temple, green eyes flashing in the mirror. “What do you think?”

Tony grins at him and puts his hands on Loki’s. “It’s good.”

Loki’s lips stretch into a smile. “That is an understatement.”

“You like it, huh?”

Loki hums and presses his cool lips to the sensitive patch of skin right below Tony’s ear. “Of course I do.”

His voice is already deliciously low, and Tony can’t suppress a shiver. He turns his head to kiss Loki, reaching up with one hand to bury his hand in his lover’s hair. The angle is a little weird, but Loki doesn’t seem to mind. No, he kisses Tony back at once and pushes him up against the sink, making Tony gasp. Loki’s hands are already roaming over Tony’s naked chest and wandering downward, fingertips only barely disappearing into Tony’s pants.

“I think,” Loki murmurs, “we should make them wait a little bit longer.”

“Whatever my king wishes,” Tony says, knowing exactly what it will do to Loki - and Loki doesn’t disappoint.

They stay in the bathroom for quite a while before they make it to bed.

"They're getting impatient," Tony tells Loki later, smiling his amusement into Loki's skin.

"Oh?" Loki says, his pleased smirk coloring his tone.

Tony hums, shifting until he can rest his head on the pillow and look at his lover. Loki's cheeks are still a little flushed, his lips still parted and redder than usual. His hair is messy, sweaty, and Tony kind of wants to start another round. He returns Loki's smile, and Loki trails his fingers over Tony's naked back.

"Can you see them?"

"Yes," Tony says. Of course he can; he can see everything. "They're waiting in Central Park. Steve looks like he had curdled milk for breakfast, and Natasha's glaring a new hole into the ozone layer."

Loki laughs. "Fury?"

"He's not there." Tony frowns, looking for him, and after a few seconds - "Ah. He's discussing things with his council. Bruce is there, too.”

“And Thor?”

Tony doesn’t have to look for Thor. “On the way to Muspelheim.” He smirks at Loki, eyes glinting. “Chasing ghosts.”

“Chasing ghosts,” Loki repeats, satisfied, and leans in to kiss Tony.

When Tony finally opens the Bifrost for them, Steve and Natasha aren’t particularly polite. Tony didn’t expect them to be, so he isn’t even annoyed - in fact, he finds it amusing. They still think they can come out of this on top, somehow. Tony will enjoy watching them as they realize that they are already as far down as one can fall, without any chance to climb up again.

He leads them over his bridge, and he can feel (and see) them exchanging alarmed glances behind his back. They doubtlessly noticed the changes; Tony and Loki didn’t bother to hide them.

“What did he do to you?” Steve finally asks, in that careful-determined tone of his, and with a look that says that he knows what’s right and wrong and Tony doesn’t.

Tony flashes him a grin. “He didn’t do anything. Well, except watching. He enjoyed _that,_ I think.”

Natasha’s face is blank when she looks at him. "What happened to Heimdall?"

"Heimdall?" Tony echoes. "Oh, he's old news. It's me now."

"I didn't know that was possible," Steve says, the look in his eyes concerned.

“Yeah, turns out it’s a kill the bearer, get the power sort of thing. Very old-fashioned.” Tony shrugs, still smirking. “Very convenient.”

More alarmed looks they think he can’t see. Tony only barely keeps from laughing.

Loki doesn't spend a lot of time in _his_ throne room. He is not the type of king who just sits around all day and waits until his opponents come to him. Loki knows that his power is not defined by the golden spear in his hand or the throne he sits on, and he doesn't need to be at the top of any stairs to hold the upper hand.

Not anymore.

Tony brings the humans to the garden that was once Frigga’s, and then he leaves again. Loki is already waiting for him, and somehow they get distracted by lips and hands and naked skin again, so Steve and Natasha have to wait a little longer.

Eventually, Loki and Tony enter the garden together, and maybe that’s when Steve and Natasha realize that this isn’t their game, that they don’t even know the rules. Then again, there is no such thing as rules, not really; Tony and Loki make and unmake them at will.

Steve and Natasha are here as envoys from Earth. They are here because they know that Loki could invade that little blue planet whenever they wish, that Asgard is powerful enough to ask the question of boots and ants all over again, and deliver a final answer this time. They are here to save everything they know, ready to make compromises.

Loki and Tony are done with accepting compromises. They have long overstepped the point where compromises were even possible, and that was a deliberate decision. And Tony knows that he doesn't want to return to the point, not now and not anytime in his now very long future. He stopped seeing things that way when his father's shield was rammed into his chest.

It's funny, really. They are just two different sort of criminals talking to each other, and their conversation doesn't last long. Tony himself doesn't even say much; he doesn't need to. He watches Loki instead, Loki who has Steve and Natasha wrapped around his little finger after not even five minutes. They don't notice the strings Loki so silently attaches to them, and they let him pull at them however he likes. Watching Loki play this game is fascinating, and Tony won't ever get enough of it. What he sees feels… inevitable. A panther playing with his prey; the outcome has been clear from the very first second.

When Steve and Natasha leave again, they are not any wiser or safer than they were when they arrived. But they feel like they achieved something, like they did something good. They think that Earth is safe. That's called _hope,_ Tony thinks, but it doesn't really matter. He and Loki will crush it eventually, no matter what it's called.

Before the Bifrost takes them, Steve asks Tony to leave Barnes alone. Tony promises it with a smile and a nod, and the fool believes him. 

Loki laughs about that as soon as they are alone.

In the next morning, at breakfast, Tony suddenly looks up. "Oh."

Loki raises a brow at him. "Something wrong?"

"No," Tony says. He can't keep from grinning. "He's calling for Heimdall."

"Oh," Loki echoes, eyes lighting up. "Tell me what you see."

So Tony tells him everything - Thor fighting for his life on Muspelheim, just like they planned. Loki looks at him with morbid fascination, greedily soaking up every word, and in the end he kisses Tony like he really, truly loves him - which he does.

The Bifrost never opens for Thor.


End file.
